dlynn0366

Hi, I have sent you an email with my contact info.

Hi there I'm in Ottawa, Canada and for sure I'd be glad to help you out. When I did my practicum we had to have a MSN locally and it was a pain.

Hi, I initially started with our Canadian online university, Athabasca, actually I attempted twice to take a class with them and gave up in frustration. The system was not user friendly, also such things as even though it was online you had to submit your work on actual paper and send in on these forms, getting your margins to line up with the forms took longer than to write the paper.

In the MSN practicum you do get a fair amount of feedback during Part A when you are developing your Learning Contract as this has to be approved in order for you to proceed to actually doing your practicum but when it comes to actually doing the practicum you are on your own. From experience the actual development of the Learning Contract ie wording etc. was probably harder than the doig the practicum. I will send you a personal email.

I was exempted from HSC 504 as part of my MSN program as I had did my BSN with UOP. I was very fortunate in that my academic advisor's (I had a switch of advisors part way through the BSN program but kept the 2nd advisor even though there was a 2 year span from my finishing by BSN and starting the MSN program) were more than helpful. As far as financial advisor all they did was call to see if it was okay to charge my VISA as being from Canada there was no financial aid to deal with. I did hear from some students though that the financial aspect could be painful to deal with. One issue I did have was one fo the courses I took in the BSN program as an elective would be counted in my MSN program but then when I signed up 2 years later for the MSN program they tried to say it would no longer count but I questioned them on this as the syllabus had not changed and my academic advisor got the class waived and I was given the credit. Even locally I see the universities not wanting to give credit for classes, making students take classes over, seems it is all about money these days.

I'm also from Canada and did both my BSN (2006) and my MSN (2010) with UOP with no regrets. I'm in the Ottawa, Ont., area and throughout both degrees often had other Canadian nurses in the same class. I have seen where it has been questioned as to whether a US online degree is recognized and for example one nurse taking her MSN worked at Toronto Sick Children's Hospital and the hospital was paying her tuition. I will email you with my contact numbers as I would be more that happy to speak with you and answer any questions.

Hi, I am from Canada so not sure of UOPs reputation in Southern California but I obtained by BSN from UOP in 2006 and last year July/10 finished up my MSN with UOP. While expensive I was more than happy with both programs. The learning teams can be a bit of a drag if you get on a bad team but you have 6 weeks of it and then you move on. Also if you in classes find you work well with certain students you can request to move on to the next class together and most instructors at the start of a class ask if there are certain members you would like to team up with. I did find the learning team experience in the BSN program much more enjoyable than the MSN program. Maybe it was because in the BSN program we all learned how teams worked together as we were all new to UOP where in the MSN program this was not the case. Any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Hi Lisa, I am from Canada and did both my BSN and MSN (finished July/10) with UOP. I am not sure about the MSN program but I did find an article from Dec/10 and it stated a BSN from Kaplan cost $33,000 verses the BSN program ay UOP costing $63,000. I just looked at a receipt and at the end of the MSN program classes which most counted for 3 credits cost me $1650.00. Looks like UOP MSN program is $565 per credit now, plus each class you pay $110 for electronic materials. From what I could find tonight it looked like Kaplan's was quite a bit cheaper at $368 a credit. That said I being from Canada initally tried doing my BSN with our Canadian online university and absolutely hated the whole system, it was not user friendly etc. While UOP cost me quite a bit more I in the end obtained both my BSN, MSN and managed to keep my sanity. I can honestly say I have no regrets.

Springsong, I also did my MSN with UOP and agree you need to have Practicum A completed before starting Practicum B. I have as I am sure you have read some negatives about doing the practicum i.e you could fake having a mentor etc. The bottom line is who is to say while UOP might not check up on one student they will not the next. Besides we are suppose to be professional adults and I believe this is the assumption UOP goes with and we will follow the rules as such.

I know what you mean I wanted to do my practicum on developing an internet based diabetes education program for our clinic but could not as to evaluate it there would have been patient involvement.

I know that with the instructor I had for part B we had to have met all our objectives prior to starting part B with no exceptions. In part A as part of the journal as you are doing now one of the requirements is to show where the objectives have been met in the approved learning contract. My understanding is once the contract was approved the objectives have to be met and you cannot change the actual contract. I know that you don't have to take part B when scheduled if not ready, my advisor called me 1-2 weeks a head to check and actually called me the day before to make absolutely sure I was ready to start the part B. My practicum also turned out to be more work that I had expected, with 5 learning objectives and 20 learning strategies. I work in a private clinic in Canada that does clinical research and we had no quality assurance program (I did SOPs, quality assurance manuals, PP on Quality Assurance, Audit Checklists, Assessments of CRC knowledge of Quality Assuarance, Chart Review Tools, Education Modules for CRC etc.) so this was what mine was based on: Practicum Goal: 1. To provide nurse clinical research coordinators (CRCs) with the information needed to apply the principles of a quality assurance (QA) program in the clinical setting. 2. To ensure that nurse clinical research coordinators can utilize an audit check system to be applied to different quality assurance procedures in the clinical setting.

i found that the journal was not actually given points but the instructor when you submitted would sometimes ask you to elaborate on how you actually met your objectives. i know my instructor wanted the journal to be fairly detailed. also as far as meeting your objectives when you start 590b it is in big bold letters that if you have not met all your objectives you are not able to start, this is from the syllabus if you have not completed your 60 hours for this msn practicum class and all your practicum contract objectives and evidence of accomplishments/evaluations, please call your academic advisor immediately as you should not be in this class. you cannot schedule nur/590b until all practicum hours are completed and all objectives and evidence of accomplishments have been accomplished, because the two-week timeframe will not be enough time for you to finish everything that is required of you.

Hi Slam65, I can't even tell you what this class involves as because I did my BSN with UOP I didn't have to take this class. One thing though for every class you are expected to post a little bio about yourself. Write it up once and you can pretty well use it for every class. Most students along with their name put where they are from, what field of nursing they are in, family life etc., hobbies. Here is mine so you have some idea. Hello, my name is XXX and I live just outside of Ottawa, Ont., Canada. I received my diploma nursing in 1978. In Ontario as of 2005 the College of Nurses of Ontario made degree programs mandatory and our 2 year college RN diploma course became a thing of the past. At this time our Registered Practical Nurses (RPN) programs went from a one year program to a two year program. I did try our Canadian online BSN program, absolutely hated it as in no way was it user friendly and from what I have heard this remains true today. I saw a commercial for UOP so decided to give UOP a try and loved it. After getting my BSN in 2006 I had planned on taking a couple of months off before pursuing my MSN but this turned into more like 2 years. This is my last class in the MSN program. I’m married, have no children but do have two cats if this counts. I work as a certified diabetes educator, clinic nurse, insulin pump trainer and clinical research coordinator.

Hi Slam65, this is the PERRLA website http://www.perrla.com/ cost is $29.95. You have a password/user name after you purchase so you can download also to more than one computer. I initially purchased the actual software from APA and hated it, I tried out another online one I downloaded (I think it was Style Ease) but for sure PERRLA for me worked the best. It was well worth the money for sure!!

Slam65, I used PERRLA for both my BSN and MSN, would have been lost without it. Nice thing it also gives free upgrades as for example part way through my MSN APA went from the 5th to 6th ed.

RMW, good luck with the learning teams in the MSN program. I did my BSN with UOP and was lucky that most of the LT experiences were good ones. In the UOP MSN program 99% of the LT experiences were pure torture. I thought it was maybe because the MSN students many had obtained their BSN from other universities and were not used to the LT concept. Plagiarism was a real problem, APA formatting i.e. student would hand in their reference with only website address etc. Other than that I did enjoy the program, some classes looked impossible ie. in one class you had to put together a business plan but each week you built on the plan so in the end it all came together.

I did not know until the last moment that UOP no longer supplied a MSN mentor if needed. In Canada unlike in the US to be a NP you do not need your MSN but can do this with a BSN. Also with our healthcare billing system which is a fee for service we do not utilize NPs as they do in the US. It was just by luck that a community health care centre which is soemthing fairly new by our government where the physicians are also salaried had a NP with her MSN who agreed to be my mentor. From my class many of the students did have difficulty obtaining a mentor but in reality it is not a lot of work for the mentor i.e. they do not have to give any written reports etc. My mentor was also never contacted by UOP. Also I know for example lets say you have a nurse with her BSN and a Masters in something other than nursing they will usually allow this person to mentor you.

Yes and no if this makes sense, they give you suggestions. THE MAJOR THING TO REMEMBER IS PATIENTS CANNOT BE INVOLVED. This is due to legalities. You can involve your coworkers and say do a presentation to a group in the community i.e you developed a STD awareness program and you present to local youth group. Another thing is at one time UOP would supply you with an online MSN mentor if need be but no more, your MSN mentor has to be found by you and has to be licenced in the state or in my case the province you practice in. There is one classs NUR/598 Research Utilization Proposal and many select a topic for this that they then use for their practicum. In NUR/598 you need to identify a work related problem, find reasearch that supports a solution to the problem, and then develop an implementation and evaluation plan in proposal format. Other suggestions are: *Develop a self-directed learning manual on assertiveness & evaluated effectiveness *Design strategies to reduce nursing students anxiety in the clinical setting *Develop an end-of-life educational series for community (including web site development) *Develop business residential care facility *Develop business plan for an entrepreneurial consulting business *Develop and tested program to reduce "code anxiety" for staff nurses *Revised restraint program for hospital including development of computerized staff education program *Develop a palliative care coordinator position (including staff education about the the new role) *Analyzed reasons for high failure rate in critical care training and proposed strategies for improving Suggestions to help decide.."are you more passionate about one topic".."is one project more needed by your organization over another".."can the project be completed in 60 hours". I'm no sure what type of nursing you do but I bet coming up with something will be easier than you think. Also many of the classes prior to the practicum prepare you for this. One class we had to do a "business plan" no way in a million did I think I could do this but the instructor worked with us week by week planning this so it all came together.

the first class nur590a is a 3 week class where you develop a learning contract on what your practicum will be about. what your objectives are and how you will accomplish them i.e. strategies. i've attached what my first objective was, my practicum was developing a qa program for our research dept. you have to put a total of 60 hours into the practicum and along the way between nur590a to nur590b you must submit a practicum journal on what you have done to complete your objectives. when you have completed everything you then sign up for nur590b which is a 2 week class and in this 2 week class you present all you have done for the practicum plus there is a powerpoint and paper due in the 2 week class. you have 14 months to take if need be between part a & b. you also must have your own msn mentor in order to do the practicum. hope this helps, please don't hesitate to ask if you have more questions. 1.0 1. analyze the clinical research coordinators (crcs) understanding of the standard operating procedures (sops) for the clinical setting in correlation with quality assurance principles effective communication a) utilize an array of skills, techniques, and new technology to effectively develop, design, and evaluate nursing and health care education programs in a variety of settings 1a. literature search on the application of quality assurance, threats to quality in this type of clinical setting, and literatures that reflect the importance of qa to safety. 1b. develop power point presentation on the benefits of a qa program. 1c. draft, then review with qa expert, a manual identifying list of quality indicators that fulfill good clinical practice (gcp) through sop compliance. 1a. submit annotated bibliography of literature reviewed. 1b. submit copy of power point presentation developed for crcs describing the benefits of a qa program. 1c. document review with qa expert in practicum journal and reflect on the major changes or recommendations that the qa expert has suggested. 1d. submit completed manual identifying quality indicators that fulfill gcp through sop compliance.

I'm 53 and just got my MSN this week, I've no plans to change jobs etc. just gives me the ability to expand on what I'm doing now as a diabetes clinic nurse/clinical research coordinator. For example for my practicum at the end of the MSN program I developed a QA program for the research side of the clinic. With the classes on education I took as part of the program I feel now I can develop an online diabetes education program for the clinic.

Hi bizzy-b, I live in Canada and did my BSN through UOP. I contacted UOP and at the time signed an authorization for them to obtain my college transcripts here in Canada, this was done at no charge and was hassle free on my end. For my MSN I started June/08 and finished this month so it took the full 2 years with taking classes back to back, that being finishing 1 class on the Monday and starting a new one the next day. All classes were 6 weeks long except for 1 which I believe was 5 weeks and the practicum classes the first one is 3 weeks long and the part B when you finish your practicum is 2 weeks long. The price for me was usually $1650.00 per class (majority of classes were 3 credit). I previously had tried the Canadian online university and hated the whole system so this is why I tried UOP. Is it a good school, well there were a number of Canadians and Canadian hospitals were helping out with student tuition so they stand by UOP. Online verses ground school? All I can say is a friend of mine was doing her BSN at a local university at the same time I was doing mine online and believe me I had much more instructor/student interaction in 1 class with UOP than she did in a whole year. As she said she'd go into a large classroom with 100-200 students at times, no one knew whether you were there or not, hand in your assignments and all was good. With UOP you are expected to post 4 out of 7 days, postings must meet certain requirements to count as attendance, plus each week other than your own individual assignments you had team projects to complete.

Yes, just finished this week.

Hi Scotty, I did my BSN with UOP and just this week finished my MSN with UOP. When you choose your electives with your BSN choose ones that will count towards your MSN. For example one of the required classes for the MSN was HCS587 Creating Change Within Organizations and I took this as an elective in the BSN program. Also in the MSN program if you have taken your BSN with UOP you are exempted from the first class HCS/504 Intro to Grad Studies. If I can be of any help please do not hesitate to ask.